Roof snow guard



Jan. 10, 1967 w J. D. ZALESKI 3,296,750

ROOF SNOW GUARD Filed May 4, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. JOSEPH D.ZALESKI BY %W, {M

Jan. 10, 1967 J z s l 3,296,750

ROOF SNOW GUARD Filed May 4, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 F/G 5 w 3 4% g l IUnited States Patent 3,295,750 ROOF SNOW GUARD Joseph D. Zaleski, 100 S.Mountain Drive, New Britain, Conn. 06015 Filed May 4, 1964, Ser. No.364,396 3 Claims. (CI. 52-24) This invention relates to a roof snowguard of a type adapted to be engaged on existing shingles in a roof, aplurality of such guards being employed in spaced locations on the roofto prevent snow packed thereon from sliding off in a mass such as couldcause injury to persons or shrubbery or other property.

This application is a continuation-in-part of application, Serial No.268,060 filed March 26, 1963 (now abandoned).

As will be described more fully hereinafter, a roof guard provided inkeeping with the present invention is made of copper or otherweather-resistant metal in strip form which can be bent to the desiredfinal shape but which is sufliciently rigid to maintain its structuralintegrity in such final shape.

The guard comprises three parts, a base, a web, and a foot. The baseconsists of two superimposed strips which are connected together forstrength, the said base being insertable between shingles in overlappingcourses, and the upper end of the base is provided with a hook forengaging the guard on the upper edge of a shingle in the underlyingcourse. The web comprises a strip secured to the lower end portion ofthe base to stand substantially in a plane normal to the base andextending longitudinally thereof. The web constitutes a support rib forthe foot which is a strip bent into a T-shape for connection to the weband to reside in a plane substantially normal to the base andtransversely thereof. It is the foot which acts as a stop to preventsnow from sliding off the roof.

It is the general object of this invention to provide an economical snowguard, easy to install and durable in use, which is of theaforedescribed general type and which constitutes an improvement overthe snow guards shown in the Campbell Patents 1,475,931 and 1,530,233.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a snow guard ofthe aforementioned type which is particularly adapted for installationon tile roofs or tile shingles.

The drawings show preferred embodiments of the invention and suchembodiments will be described, but it will be understood that variouschanges may be made from the construct-ions disclosed, and that thedrawings and description are not to be construed as defining or limitingthe scope of the invention, the claims forming a part of thisspecification being relied upon for that purpose.

Of the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a corner of a steep roof showing thelocation of a plurality of the snow guards provided in accordance withthe present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a first form of a snow guard provided inkeeping with this invention;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the partially formed base element of the snowguard;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the partially formed web element of thesnow guard;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the partially formed foot element of thesnow guard;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged vertical cross-sectional view taken through thelower end of the snow guard as indicated by the lines 66 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 2 showing an alternativeform of snow guard which is particularly adapted for installation ontile roofs; and

FIG. 8 is a side elevational view of the snow guard shown in FIG. 7. i

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the snow guards 10, 10 of this invention arepreferably regularly spaced on a roof so that they will cooperate toprevent packed snow from sliding oif the roof and causing injury topersons or animals and damage to property.

As illustrated, and as has been mentioned, a snow guard 19 has a fiatbase element 12 provided with a hook 14 at its upper end so that thesaid base element can be inserted and secured between shingles ofoverlapping courses. That is, a base portion of snow guard 10 is slidover the top of a shingle S1 so that its hook 14 will engage the upperedge of said shingle and/ or the upper edge of an adjacent shingle inthe same course. When hook is properly engaged with the upper edge ofthe underlying shingle S1, the lower end portion of snow guard,comprising a web 16 and a foot 18, will be disposed adjacent the edge ofa shingle S2 in the overlapping course of shingles above the coursecontaining the shingle S1. Thus, the foot 18 is positioned to projectinto snow on the roof and to cooperate with the feet of other similarsnow guards to stop packed snow from sliding.

Turning now to the construction of the base 12, with particularreference to FIGS. 2 and 3, it will be seen that the said base comprisestwo strips of weather-resistant metal, such as copper, the upper stripbeing denoted by the reference numeral 20 and the lower by referencenumeral 22. A central portion of the plies 20 and 22 at their commonupper end is bent downwardly and rearwardly to form the hook 14. Thisleaves two sapced prongs 24, 24 at the upper end of the base whichfacilitate the installation of the guard between overlapping shingles.

It Will be observed that in forming and bending the hook 14, a firstportion 26 thereof is bent downwardly and then rearwardly substantiallyparallel with the base 12. This portion 26 serves to clinch the plies 20and 22 of the base 12 together to maintain their structural integrity.The second portion 28 of the hook 14 is inclined downwardly andrearwardly from the first portion 26 about a hinge line or bend line 30.When installing the guard between overlapping shingles, the hook portion28 will be bent upwardly toward the base 12 until it passes over theupper edge of an underlying shingle such as the shingle S1, and it willthen spring downwardly to engage said upper edge and retain the guard 10in position on the roof.

The end of the base opposite the hook 14 has a reduced width portion 32and is provided with a central longitu dinally extending slot 34 andwith a similar slot 36 spaced upwardly therefrom. The slot 34 isprovided to define a pair of tongues 38, 38 on the lower end of the basewhich are to be bent over a portion of the web 16 to clinch the baseplies 20 and 22 together and to help secure the web in place, as shownin FIG. 2. The slots 36 is provided to receive tabs on the said web,also to help secure it in place, as will be described.

Referring now to the web 14- as shown in FIGS. 2, 4 and 6, it will beseen that this web comprises a single strip of the weather resistantmetal and it will be observed that the strip is bent into flat invertedU-shape. A tab 40 is formed on each end of the web strip, each tab beingjust wide enough to be inserted within the slot 36 formed on the base12. The end portions 42, 42 adjacent the tabs 40, 40 are bent or flaredoutwardly from the inverted U- body portion of the web 16 so that theycan be bent around reduced width portions 32 of the base, whereby thetabs 40, 40 can both be inserted in side-by-side relationship into theslot 36. Thus, the inverted U-shaped body portion stands substantiallyin a vertical plane normal to the base 12 and extends longitudinallythereof.

The foot element 18 also comprises a single strip of theweather-resistant metal bent into a generally T-shape as shown in FIG.5. That is, the ends of the said strip are bent inwardly to form a head44- and a stem 46, the

said stern comprising the end portions of the strip. As thus formed, theend portions or stem of the T-shaped foot are inserted within the foldof the inverted U-shaped web 16 so that the head of the foot facesforwardly and resides in a plane which is substantially normal to andtransversely of the base 12.

When the web 16 and foot 18 have been assembled as described, theupstanding corner of the web remote from the foot is bent downwardly andforwardly, the web and foot being bent along the fold line 48 (FIGS. 4,5, and 7) to reinforce the grip between them. Further, the wings of thehead 44 on the T-shaped foot 18 are bent rearwardly and downwardly onthe fold lines 50, 50 (FIGS. 2, 5, and 7) to reinforce the head of thefoot as a stop against the packed snow.

Thus, the first embodiment of the snow guard as shown in FIGS. 1-6 iscomplete, and the three parts thereof are held as a unit, particularlywhen the tongues 38, 38 of the base are bent over the outwardly flaredportions 42, 42 of the web as shown in FIG. 2.

The altemative form of the invention as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 includesubstantially the same elements as the first described embodiment. Morespecifically, a base 12a of the alternative form also comprises a doubleply or two thickness strip of metal, and the rear end thereof is formedwith a reduced width rear end portion. Further, the web 16 and foot 18are formed as described in connection with the first embodiment. Theonly difference in the construction of the alternative form whencompared with the first form is in the form of the hook 14a.

In providing for the new book 14a, the lowermost ply of the base 12a issupplied initially in greater length than the upper ply 20a for thebase. Then the hook 14a is formed for the most part from the lowermostor bottom ply. That is, the hook 14a is formed as shown in FIG. 7 from aportion of the bottom ply 22a spaced from the upper end thereof to forma section 52 which is generally normal to the base 12a. A section 54 isalso formed in the bottom ply to extend forwardly and downwardly fromthe section 52, and a stiffening section 56 is formed to extend upwardlyand forwardly from the section 54. The upper ply 20a is clinched overthe end of the stiffening section 56 to from a bead 58 which helps toconnect the plies 20a and 22a.

The said plies are further connected together in the alternative form ofthe invention by providing at least one, and preferrably two, aperturesin the top ply 20a. The bottom ply 22a is then punched into openings inthe top ply, and the punched portions are swaged over the top ply toform the riveted connection or connections 60, 60 shown in FIGS. 7 and8.

It will be observed that by providing the transverse portion 52 of thehook 14a that extends substantially normal and transversely to the base12a, the said hook is offset from the base to accommodate the normalthickness of roofing tile or a tile shingle. The installation of thealternative form shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 is substantially 4 identicalwith the installation of the form 10 first described. That is, the tileor shingle in an upper course is lifted sufliciently to permit theinsertion of the base 12a of the alternative form so that the hook 14aformed thereon can be engaged with the upper edge of the underlying tileor shingle. As thus engaged, the head of the foot 18 is disposed inposition at the lower edge of the uppermost tile to project into packedsnow on a roof and to provide a. stop to prevent the sliding thereof.

The invention claimed is:

1. A roof snow guard of the type to be hooked on the upper edge of ashingle that is partially overlapped by the next higher course ofshingles, said guard being made of weather resistant sheet metal instrip form to include a base, a web, and a foot, the base comprising twosuperimposed strips the lowermost of which has an upper end extendingbeyond the uppermost but which is bent downwardly a distance from itsupper end to form a hook and to bring its upper end below the uppermoststrip which is bent downwardly around the upper end of the lowermoststrip for connection therewith, the lower end of the superimposed stripshaving a longitudinal slot defining a pair of spaced tongues, the Webcomprising a strip bent into flat inverted U-shape and having endportions which are flared and bent around the longitudinal edges of thebase adjacent the lower end thereof so that the web stands substantiallyin a plane normal to the base and longitudinally thereof, the footcomprising a strip having its ends bent inwardly to form a T-shape withsaid ends tucked into the inverted U-shaped web so that the head of theT-shaped foot faces toward the upper end of the base and residessubstantially in a transverse plane normal to the base, the said base,web and foot being interconnected and reinforced by bending the basetongues over the flared end portions of the web, by bending the cornerof the web remote from the foot downwardly into a closed flap upon thebody of the Web, and by bending the corners of the head of the T-shapedfoot into closed flaps.

2. A roof snow guard as set forth in claim 1 wherein the hook extendsdownwardly adjacent the base in a transverse plane substantially normalthereto and then is inclined downwardly and toward the lower end of thebase.

3. A roof snow guard as set forth in claim 1 wherein the uppermost ofthe base strips is provided with at least one aperture and the lowermoststrip is punched into said aperture and bent over the edges of theaperture to connect the two base strips like a rivet.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 30,788 5/1899Clark 5224 1,480,261 1/ 1924 Hacker 52-25 1,530,233 3/1925 Campbell 5224FRANK L. ABBOTT, Primary Examiner.

R. A. STENZEL, Assistant Examiner.

1. A ROOF SNOW GUARD OF THE TYPE TO BE HOOKED ON THE UPPER EDGE OF ASHINGLE THAT IS PARTIALLY OVERLAPPED BY THE NEXT HIGHER COURSE OFSHINGLES, SAID GUARD BEING MADE OF WEATHER RESISTANT SHEET METAL INSTRIP FORM TO INCLUDE A BASE, A WEB, AND A FOOT, THE BASE COMPRISING TWOSUPERIMPOSED STRIPS THE LOWERMOST OF WHICH HAS AN UPPER END EXTENDINGBEYOND THE UPPERMOST BUT WHICH IS BENT DOWNWARDLY A DISTANCE FROM ITSUPPER END TO FORM A HOOK AND TO BRING ITS UPPER END BELOW THE UPPERMOSTSTRIP WHICH IS BENT DOWNWARDLY AROUND THE UPPER END OF THE LOWERMOSTSTRIP FOR CONNECTION THEREWITH, THE LOWER END OF THE SUPERIMPOSED STRIPSHAVING A LONGITUDINAL SLOT DEFINING A PAIR OF SPACED TONGUES, THE WEBCOMPRISING A STRIP BENT INTO FLAT INVERTED U-SHAPE AND HAVING ENDPORTIONS WHICH ARE FLARED AND BENT AROUND THE LONGITUDINAL EDGES OF THEBASE ADJACENT THE LOWER END THEREOF SO THAT THE WEB STANDS SUBSTANTIALLYIN A PLANE NORMAL TO THE BASE AND LONGITUDINALLY THEREOF, THE FOOTCOMPRISING A STRIP HAVING ITS